Apparatus for watering railway-tracks



('No Model.)

J. L. FISHER.

APPARATUS'FOR WATERING RAILWAY TRACKS.

Patented May 31, 1887.

I \Niihesses UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE. L

JOSEPH L. FISHER, or rrrrssus e, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR on TWO-' 'rrusns TO LORIN CARR, on CANTON, AND J. J. SMITH, or CLEVELAND,

OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR WATERING RAILWAY-TRACKS. l

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,001, dated May 31, 1887.

Application filed September 17, 1886. Serial "No. 213,843. (No model.)

ToaZZ whom it may concern: I Be it known that I, JOSEPH L. FISHER, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Watering the Rails on Railroad-Tracks,which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Similar letters of reference indicate correro sponding parts.

The object of my invention is an apparatus for watering the tracks of street-cars or steamgreatly reducing the friction. v

In'the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a street-car, and Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the same.

A A is the body of the car. A A are the rear and front platforms. to a are the wheels. to is the track or rails. 13 is the water-tank; b, the filling-orifice of the tank. 0 c are pipes. c c are crank-arms for actuating the valves in the pipesc c. c c are rods connecting and 23 operating the valves. D D are rods to operate-that is, to open and closethe valves.

The tanks are two in number.-one on each side of the carand are placed, preferably,beneath the seats and at about the middle of the 0 car.

\Vhen it is desired to wet the rails,the driver of the (street) car takes hold of the rod or lever D and pushes it forward, thus drawing the valve open, when the water begins to flow through the pipes c and falls on the rails directlyin front of the wheels; or it may be made to fall directly on the wheel,so that it will run down on the track as the wheel revolves. By attaching a connecting rod 0 between the 0 valve on one side to another on the side immediately opposite, as shown in Fig. 2, both tracks or both rails can be wet at the same operation of the rod or lever D. It will be seen by reference to the drawings that I make pro- 4 5 vision for ope'rating the valves from either end of the car, so that the rails can be watered directly in front of'the wheels in going either way.

By actual experiment I find that a wet track at curves is fully twenty-five per cent. easier on the team than when dry, and for this reason it would be a very useful thing to water the rails at the curves. By connecting the two tanks by means of a pipe, F, both can be filled at i the same time and from one side. Though I only show my invention as attached to a street-car, yet it can readily be attached to steam-cars as well, and by. having the operating-rods on the locomotive.

In applying my apparatus to steam-cars the water would be applied to the track in rear of the locomotive-say onthe tender.

Having thus described my invention,whatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

;is cars on the curves in the road, so that the wheelswill more easily slip over the rails, by

1. The watering apparatus herein described, consisting in two tanks, each provided with branch pipes having their outer open ends above the rails, each of said pipes being provided with crank-actuated valves, in combination with a cross-rod having its outer ends jointed to the cranks for actuating the valves, and a rod, D, for operating said valve-cranks and cross-rod, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth. I

2. The watering apparatus herein described, consisting in two tanks, each provided with branch pipes having their outer open ends above the rails, each of said pipes being provided with crank-actuated valves, in combi- 8o nation with a cross-rod having its outer ends jointed to the cranks for actuating the valves, and a rod, D, for operating said valve cranks and cross-rod, said rod D having its inner end jointed to the joint of the valve-crank and 8 cross-rod, the outer end of the rod D extending forward, whereby it may be operated by an attendant, substantially as specified.

3. The watering apparatusherein described, consisting in two tanks, each provided with 0 branch pipes having their outer open ends above the rails, each of said pipes being provided with crank-actuated valves, and a com municating cross pipe for connecting said .tanks, in combination with a cross-rodhaving 5 its outer ends jointed to the cranks for actuating the valves and a rod for operating the cross-rod and valve-cranks simultaneously, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth. too

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I hereto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses: JOSEPH L. FISHER. D. E. DAvIs,

JAs. F. GILDER. 

